I just love Pork Rillettes - they are so easy to make & so tasty, just perfect to pull out of the fridge when you have guests or get a snack attack!! It takes me back to the awesome food markets in Paris - YES!!

Ingredients

1 tbs salt flakes

1 tsp cracked black pepper

6 juniper berries

20 all spice berries

16 cloves garlic

120g brandy or apple cider

1 kg pork shoulder cut into 3 cm cubes

500g pork belly or bacon (rind removed) cut into cubes

1 tbs dijon mustard

1 tbs veggie stock paste

150g water

150g dry white wine

fresh thyme leaves optional

fresh bay leaves optional

butter or duck fat optional

Instructions

Place the salt, pepper, juniper berries and all spice berries into the TM bowl and mill for 20 secs speed 10.

Add the garlic and chop for 3 secs / speed 7.

Scrape out the mixture into a container and add the pork shoulder, pork belly or bacon and the brandy, cover and marinate over night in the fridge.

Place the marinated pork into the TM bowl, add mustard, water, wine, thyme and bay leaves and cook for 1.5hrs /100 degrees/ reverse, speed 1.5 with the simmering basket on top instead of the MC. If you need to shred the pork anymore you can go onto speed 4 reverse for 5 - 10 secs.

Allow to cool and place into sterilised jars.

If your pork wasn't fatty enough you may need to melt some butter or duck fat to cover the mixture.

Place into the fridge to cool completely and serve with cornichons and crusty bread or crackers.

Don’t tell me you have never heard of a “Truffle Off”?? Ok so I made it up, because my friend Rita & I both bought a 20g truffle at the same time & didn’t realise it so we decided to have a truffle off & cook as many different things as we could with our truffles. I will update my pics as I go through the delicious challenge. Bring it on!! YUM!! (If you need more truffle drooling see post from 2017 truffle season)

Leek, Potato and Truffle Soup recipe by Dani Valent

Truffle & cheese sourdough pizza

Barolo Braised Beef with Polenta Cremoso – Joseph Vargetto recipe from the Dani Valent site – I also used my truffled polenta for this recipe to lift it to the next level!!

So Dani Valent told me that she was doing a ThermoBar event in Melbourne at Turning Point Ripponlea & I really wanted to go but it was just not possible this time around so we did our own at my house on the same night!!! What delicious fun we had too!! Dani was nice enough to share some of the recipes they were having at her ThermoBar night too. Unfortunately I was pretty busy & didn’t have time to take many “posh photos” on the night so I will share an album of iphone pics from everyone too. Dani even FaceTimed me so we could watch Chef Jose Chavez’s Thermomix demo of one of his recipes for the night. What a wonderful surprise!! My guests were very happy!! I had 10 friends in total that could make it on the Thursday before Easter, I even invited 2 non-thermie friends!! Although they have both been to lots of Thermie events 🙂

We had the same cocktails as they did, only we had Dani’s recipe for the Nefrozi instead of the Negroni that Nate made in Melbourne.

We made 4 of the recipes they had in Melbounre too – the Fragrant Coconut Fish Soup was so delicious!! Gazpacho Shooters, Salmon Rillettes with Vegan Mango on Crispy Croutons and the Chocolate Mousse & Whipped Ricotta, Cinnamon & Cocoa Powder Cones.

Plus we made & served extra Dani Valent recipes too like the Duck Liver Parfait, Gingerbread Crumbs & Chocolate Foam – recipe from In the Mix Cookbook by Kym Machin, it was surprising & delicious, most people’s favourite dish. One of my guests brought the Pumpkin Arancini Balls with smokey yoghurt dressing, I also made tempura vegetables, tomato shots, cheesy quinoa bites, pierogies & pretzels. My other friend brought the Parsley & Orange juice recipe as a palate cleanser, which was just perfect.

Ok I think you get it that I just love all of Dani Valent’s cookbooks, recipes & her video site, see my posts on when I cooked & photographed all the recipes from her Entertaining with Dani Valent Cookbook. Plus I am am constantly updating my post on all the recipes I have tried from her video site – My addiction to Dani Valent Video Website. A few years a go I did an In the Mix Cookbook challenge & cooked over 40 recipes from the books in 30 days!! So this year I decided March would be #DaniValentMonth. I decided to host a lunch with 4 foodie friends & asked them to each bring a Dani Valent dish to share – one of my friends confessed to being a Basque Cheesecake virgin so we told her she had to make it & bring it to our lunch on the 8th March.

I made the Roasted Cauliflower Hummus recipe from Dani Valent’s site it’s by Shane Delia & so delicious served warm 🙂

Dani Valent herself couldn’t make it to our lunch so we set up a “Shrine” for her at the head of the table 🙂

I cracked out my homemade Kimchi – recipe by Sharon Flynn is on Dani’s site too.

Sue made the Mushroom Cappuccinos recipe from the Entertaining with Dani Valent Cookbook, with a touch of truffle oil, it was a perfect start to our ladies lunch 🙂

Rosey made the Sour Orange Curry recipe from the In the Mix Cookbook by Mark Newman – it was so yummy & spicy 🙂

(I forgot to take photos on my camera of the other 2 delicious main dishes that we had Onion Jam Flan from In the Mix cookbook made by Rosey & Rita made the Herb Salted Chicken form the Spanish chapter of Entertaining with Dani Valent cookbook – both delicious recipes!!)

Christine made the Basque Cheesecake for her very first time & she did an awesome job of it – you can watch the live video we took of her trying it for the first time & she gave it a 10.5 out of 10!!

I also made the White Chocolate and Baileys Parfait with Coffee Crumble recipe from Dani’s site by Julie Wholefood Alchemist. We shared 1 between 5 in case you are wondering but it was so good!!

I also made the Choc Top recipe by Christy Tania on Dani’s site – it has Cherry Semifreddo, sable biscuit base & dipped in Chocolate served with chocolate ganache. yes we shared one of these too 🙂

One of the best things was dividing up the leftovers to share YUM!!

We can’t wait for our Dani Valent Cocktail & Canapé’s evening at the end of the month – watch this space 🙂